


The Worth of Waiting

by eurydice72



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-21 00:39:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/893770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eurydice72/pseuds/eurydice72
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur’s absences never got easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Worth of Waiting

Arthur’s absences never got easier. If anything, the deeper Gwen’s emotions ran, the harder they became to bear. She watched him leave from the parapet, and she was there every evening he was gone, imagining his return as the horizon swallowed the sun. For the court, she was always stoic and strong, but the night was a different story. Images of Arthur in battle haunted her, troubling her sleep, leaving her wan and watchful to greet the dawn.

This absence was the worst in months.

Reports trickled in about the skirmishes he fought. More than one knight returned to Camelot to be buried by his family. She lived in daily fear that one of the bodies that came back would be Arthur’s, and took to standing on the parapet even in the dark of night, blind to everything but the closest movements. It wasn’t enough, but it was all she had.

On the eleventh night, she leaned against the stone edge, heedless of the wind whispering the hem of her purple nightdress around her thighs. Her cloak rested forgotten on the ground beside her, but her thoughts were even further away, wandering the forest in search of Arthur. She almost imagined she could hear him, the soft rattle of his chain mail as he stood to stretch, or the heavy tread of his boot as he marched along.

“Guinevere…”

The murmur came at her ear, not pretend but real and warm and husky with emotion. As the gooseflesh stippled across her bare skin, Gwen whipped around and came face to face with the object of her desires.

His face was dirty, smudged from sweat and soil that nothing but a steaming hot bath would fix. Fresh grazes abraded his right temple and cheekbone, the scabs still soft and bright, and lines bracketed his mouth, etching his weariness upon his skin for all to see. But his blue eyes shone when they caught hers, and he smiled at her obvious surprise in seeing him there.

“You weren’t in our room,” he chastised.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“I had to come looking for you.”

“I’m sorry, I—”

“No, it’s only fair.” He glanced over her shoulder. “It looks like you’ve been doing your share, too.”

Her throat closed. No more words could fight their way past. It was her body’s turn to show him how much she’d missed him.

His arms scooped around her waist at the same time she threw hers around his neck. Their mouths crashed together, all frustrated passion and clash of teeth, and she opened to his plunder, whimpering at the first touch of his tongue. Desperate fingers searched for skin, only to be checked by the chainmail, but Arthur had better luck, catching the fabric of her nightdress and tugging it up and out of his way.

They both moaned when his callused fingertips dragged across the lower swell of her bottom. When the world tilted around her as Arthur turned to carry her back inside, however, Gwen tore away from his sinful kisses and shook her head.

“No. Please. I’ve waited long enough.”

His face had passed into darkness, making it impossible to read him. “It’s cold.”

“I’m not.”

“It won’t be comfortable.”

“I don’t care.”

To prove it, she tugged at him until her back hit the stone wall. Her right leg curled around his hip, and her nightgown fell further away, exposing the rest of her thigh.

When his lashes ducked to see her bared skin, his nostrils flared. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You can’t.” She worked at his belt, letting his scabbard fall free. “You’re home.”

His eyes shot up, and now, out of the shadows, his hunger was readily visible in their darkening depths. Whatever he saw in hers banished his hesitation, and he dug into her flesh, lifting her up until she straddled his hips.

They moved together, knowing without words what had to be done, what each of them wanted. Gwen was the first to cry out, when his rough fingers delved between her slick folds, but Arthur was quick to follow as she finally shoved his trousers out of the way and reached the thick length of his cock. Both sounds were muffled by the renewed seals of their mouths, eager, needy kisses punctuating the frantic joining of the lower halves. With the stone wall to keep her steady, she begged for more, faster, harder, anything to keep from flying apart. She needed this. Him. From the sound of it, so did he.

Her release shattered every ache she’d kept locked away in his absence. She would’ve screamed if Arthur hadn’t demanded her mouth and more of those soul-stealing kisses that made her head spin. She clung to his broad back with everything she had. By the time he thrust into her one last time, she trembled from head to toe, regardless of the fact that the wind had long disappeared.

When Arthur lowered her to the ground, Gwen hissed and arched away from the wall.

“What is it?” Arthur crouched down and forced her to turn, lifting her nightdress to expose the fresh scrapes across the small of her back. He brushed over the broken skin, a frown overtaking his smile. “I knew I should’ve taken you inside.”

“No.” She tugged him back up, then nestled against his chest. The arms that wrapped around her were gentler this time, wary of causing her pain. “I’m glad for it.”

Every step she took would be a reminder. That he was home, that he loved her.

That waiting for him would always be worth it. Because she was his.


End file.
